I know we are all celebrating the presence of Fall finally making it’s way here. All we can think about is pumpkins, college football, Halloween costumes and leaves. But there is also another thing you ought to be thinking of: your winter vacation. It’s no secret that I live in Salt Lake City and I haven’t really done a post on my own town. Most people know Utah as the mecca of snow sports. This is what I adore about this state and really what has kept me around for these past two years. The powder here is unlike powder in any other place.

You may or may not have known that Utah offers 13 ski resorts many within just an hour or much less of each other. Salt Lake International Airport boasts a good number of flights arriving before noon and with a handful of premier ski resorts less than an hour of the airport you can land in the morning and be skiing in the afternoon. A lot of people get the impression that if they come to Utah for skiing they need to head up to Park City and pay for a super expensive condo right on the resort, and if that’s within your budget and how you prefer to vacation you will have a wonderful experience. But unfortunately, not all of us can spend that kind of cash and I’m a firm believer everyone deserves the opportunity to experience Utah powder.

Here are some tips that will help you save some serious cash on planning your trip. You don’t need to rent a condo in Park City. You can actually stay in a hotel either down in Cottonwood, downtown SLC or you can even try renting a house in either of these areas if you have a big group( try vrbo). This comes with quite a few benefits. Not only will you save on the lodging costs but restaurants, groceries and movies will be a lot cheaper and you won’t be limiting yourself to just the three ski resorts in Park City. You can head up either Big Cottonwood Canyon and visit Brighton or Solitude or up Little Cottonwood Canyon and visit Alta (skiiers only) and Snowbird.  You don’t even have to rent a car if you don’t want to because UTA (Utah Transit Authority) public transportation system has buses to these major resorts, and some hotels even offer shuttles.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes living in Utah we tend to overlook the mountains of our great state. While people from around the world flocking here to get a taste of our fresh Utah powder, we’re complaining about all the snow we have to shovel off of our driveways.

I have a friend from out of state that happens to be one of those flocking to Utah. Actually, the highlight of his year is his annual trip to the Wasatch Front. So naturally when he came into town a few weekends ago our plans were centralized around the mountains, more specifically, Solitude Mountain Resort. Solitude is a local favorite that prides itself with short lift lines and plenty of terrain to enjoy. 

After taking some warm up runs on freshly groomed, wide open trails, we headed to the more adventurous edge of the resort and found some hidden powder stashes left untouched from the previous week’s storm. The snow was great, the staff was super friendly, and due to a bad fall by my friend, we found out first hand that the ski patrol and on mountain clinic were great too.

Solitude truly has a wide selection of terrain and although the mountain has plenty of runs that suit the beginner or intermediate skier, it has some steeps that are sure to give even most advanced skiers an extra dose of adrenaline. If the in-bounds terrain isn’t enough of a challenge, Solitude offers a program called Backtracks, a guided tour that takes you out of the resort’s boundaries and into the untouched Wasatch back country.

Seriously, the hype that surrounds utah and it’s claim to the greatest snow on earth is true. Visit www.skiutah.com to schedule your trip and check out Solitude and Utah’s 12 other world class ski resorts.